Dental articulator



J. M. O 'KEEFEJ- DENTAL ARTICULATOB. APPLICATION men Nov. 6. 1911.

Patented Dec. 9,1919.

INVENTOH ATTO H N EY WITNESSES %Jj W MMM.

a r enrich.

JAMES M. o rnnrn, or BROOKLYN, new YORK, Assioriron To 0. KanE v'rALARTICU- LATOR} CORPORATION, or new roan; N. Y., a oonrona'rioiv orNEW'YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

DENTAL ARTICULATOR.

Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

Apphcation filed November 6, 1917; Serial No. 200,582.

To all whom it may concern." i

Be it known that 1, James M. OKEEFE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Dental Articulators, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in dental articulators and hasfor its primary object,.the provision of a' device of this characterwhich will be constructed in such manner I that the parts serving tosupport the artificial upper and lower jaws willbe pe mitted to movelaterally as well inwardly and outwardly for the purpose of determining. the proper registration or bite of the teeth. p g j The inventionhas for another object, the

provision of an articulator in whichthe lower jaw supportin meinbermayhave a lateral swinging movement u pen .the hinged support or bodyportion of the device while the hinged support or body portion is alsoadapted for longitudinal or inward and outthe above stated characterwhich will be constructed. in such manner that all of the movementsofthehuman lower j aw may be imitatedso that the artificial teeth may beproperlypositioned and filed to a-ssurea perfect bite or registration ofallof the upper and lower teeth when the artificial teeth or false -teeth are, placed in position in the patients mouth. 3 Q A further objectof the invention resides in the provision of an articulator in which thelower jaw supporting member willbe normally held in parallel relationwith the upper jaw supporting member and in which 451 will also beprovided means for guiding the body of the articulator and lowerjawmember longitudinally upon the u-pperijaw sup porting member andadjustable means for limiting movement of the. aw supporting memberstoward one another.

Astill further object of the inventionre sides inthe provision ofadental articulator of the above stated character'which will be ofextremely simple construction and operathrough the articulator,indicating in dotted lines the movement of the body and lower jaw memberlongitudinally upon the upper aw supporting member.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view ofthe articulator, indicating by dottedlines the lateral swinging movement of the lower aw supporting member, lr

Fig. {i is a detail sectional view on the plane of line H .of Fig. 2,and,

Fig. 5 is a similar view on: the plane of line 55. of Fig. 2.

Referring more specifically, to the drawings in which similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, 1designates the upper jaw supporting member and 2 the lower jawsupporting member. A series of openings 3 is provided in each of .thejaw supporting .members to receive plaster Pari or the like upon whichthe artificial upper and lower jaws, 4 are mounted with the upper andlower teeth secured thereto.

.The upper jaw supporting member 1 is provided with a longitudinal slot6 adjacent its inner end and through which the shank of the set screw 7is enga ed said set screw threading into the upper body member 8, asshown at 9. .This upper body member 8 is prom'ded with longitudinalupturned side flanges 10 to prevent lateral or swinging movement of theupper jaw supporting member 1. V i e The lower jaw supporting member 2is mounted upon the lower body. member 11 by means of the pivot pin 12and is arranged for. lateral swinging movement thereon. Thelower jawsupporting member carries a longitudinal rib13 which normally rests inlongitudinal channel or recess 14 formed in theur ler face of the lowerbody u'ieinber 11. By loosening the pivot member 12, however, the loweraw supporting member 2 may be readily moved laterally in eitherdirection upon the body member 11, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig.3.

The upper jaw member 8 has downwardly turned paced cars 15 while thelower body member 11 has upwardly directed spaced parallel e'ars 16adapted to fit the outer faces of the cars 15. The corresponding cars 15and 16 are connected in pairs by a pivot 17, thereby forming a centralpivot for the body members to represent the hinge of the lower human aw.

The movement of the upper and lower jaw supporting members toward oneanother is limited by the adjustable member 18 threaded on an inclinethrough the lower body member 11 and adapted to be adjusted so that itupper free end will be engaged by the upper body member 8 as the jawsupporting members are moved toward one another. It will be understoodthat the portions of the upper body member 8 and lower body member 11carrying the cars 15 and 16 respectively are offset from the remainderof the body members so as to bring closer together the hinged or pivotedportions of the body of the device.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the lower jaw supporting membermay be moved inwardly and outwardly with respect to the upper jawsupporting member .or swung laterally upon the pivot member 12 while theupper and lower teeth are registering, as shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings.

This device therefore makes it possible to obtain a proper bite orregistration of the teeth when the artificial jaws are in the variouspositions assumed by the human jaws during conversation or when theparty is eating. When the teeth are properly set in the artificial gumsand filed to permit proper registration of the teeth of the upper andlower jaws with the lower jaw supporting member in its variouspositions, all protruding edges or corners of the teeth may beeliminated and this will assure proper fitting of the artificial orfalse teeth in the'patients mouth for the best service possible.

It is believed that the advantages as well as the construction andoperation of this device will be apparent from the foregoing descriptiontaken in connection with the (hawingswithout further explanation.However, it will be observed that the device comprises particularly,jaws which are ofi'- set toward each other and pivotally connected on anaxial line centrally between the same, these jaws having movable partsto simulate the movement of the lower jaw of the mouth with respect tothe upper jaw, so that when an impression is made from a patients mouth,the lower jaw and part of the lower jaw, while the pivoted part of thelower jaw can have lateral pivoting or swinging movement to give thecorresponding movement of the lower aw, the same as if the patient wasat hand.

It will'be evident to all parties familiar with this art, that thepresent invention is adapted for use for all cases such as two or threetooth bridge work or small partial plates, as well as full upper orlower sets of teeth.

It will be understood, however, that minor changes in the details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim 1. A dental articulator including upper and lower jaws offsettoward each other and pivotally connected transversely thereof andintermediately therebetween, a section slidber carried by said upperpart and cooperating with the jaw supporting member thereon to hold thelatter in adjusted position, a

lower jaw supporting member for the lower part, a clamping pivotconnecting said lower aw supporting member to the lower part for lateralmovement thereon, said lower jaw supporting member having a reducedextension provided with a projection, said lower part of the body havinga recess into which said projection is adapted to snap for holding thelower jaw supporting member centralized and adapted to cooperate withthe clamping member to hold said lower jaw supporting member in anadjusted angular position, and adjustable means for regulating the.distance between the upper and lower jaw supporting members. 3. A dentalarticulator including an upper aw and a lower jaw, pivotally connected,adjustable means carried by one of said jaws for engagement with theother jaw to regulate the distance therebetween, a blade coparts havinga slot therethrough, a clamping member engaged through the slot andcarried by the other part for clamping the blade in adjusted position,said lower jaw having a notch in its bottom face equi-dis tantly betweenthe side edges thereof, a blade having an aperture, said lower jaw alsohaving an aperture, clamping means carried by the lower jaw, said bladehaving aninward extension with an offset projection engaging the notch,said clamping means serving to hold said blade in adjusted angularposition.

4. In a dental articulator including relatively movable jaws, a platecarried by each jaw, one of said plates being pivotally mounted formovement relative to the other, and means for releasably retaining saidpivoted plate in a centralized position relative to the other plate,whereby said pivoted plate may be moved out of a central posi tion ineither direction and readily returned to central position, saidretaining means acting automatically to centralize the plate.

5. In a dental articulator including relatively movable jaws, a platecarried by each ,JZUV, one jaw having a notch and the plate carried bysaid jaw being pivotally connected thereto, and a resilient tonguecarried by said plate to engage in the notch to centralize the platerelative to the other.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES M. OKEEFE. WVitnesses WILLIAM S. FOWLER, JOHN E. BURoH.

